Cabinet sealing means



March 11, 1958 R. G. KURTZ CABINET sEALING MEANS Filed May 20, 1955` 2Sheets-Sheetl March 1l, 1958 R. G. KURTZ` 2,825,940

CABINET SEALING MEANS Filed May 20, 1955 e 2 sheets-sheet 2 2l ,f /3 24/5 /4 2 2524 /4 v 2.a

United States CABINET SEALING MEANS Application May 20, 1955-, SerialNo. 509,935

3 Claims. (Cl. Ztl-69) This invention relates to cabinet structure and,more particularly, relates to sealing means adapted for use in cabinets,such for example as. refrigerator cabinets.

The invention has for its primary object the provision of novel sealingmeans for double-door cabinets of` that type wherein the center stile,usually provided between the confronting edges of the two doors, iseliminated.

It is a further object of this invention to provide sealing meansenabling either door to be opened and then to be closedl andautomatically sealed against the edge of the other door.

In one aspect, the invention also comprehends adaptation of the novelsealing means to refrigerator cabinets of the single door type.

To the foregoing general ends, and lirst briefly described, theinvention provides door sealing means, and particularly means of thetype in which a pair of doors abut in the closed position, and each doorcarries gasket means and means for exing the gasket means to project itto sealing position in response to closing the door.

The manner in which the foregoing and other objects and advantages ofthe invention may best be achieved will be more clearly understood froma consideration of the following description, taken in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a stileless refrigerator having eachof its two doors equipped with the novel` sealing means of thisinvention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of apparatus of thekind shown in Figure l, the view illustrating the doors and cooperatinggasket means in the closed position;

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2, and showing the left-hand doorclosed and the right hand door partially open; and,

Figure 4 is a fragmentary sectional View of a modified embodiment of theinvention which differs from the preferred embodiment in that the novelgasket means is utilized to effect sealing of a free edge portion ofasingle door.

vNow making more detailed reference to the drawings, there isillustrated a cabinet 5, in this instance a refrigerator cabinet,including a pair of similar doors or closure members 6 eachy providedwith the usual sealing means, 7 along the upper, lower and outer edges,ofi said members. The inner faces of the doors 6 are provided withliners 8, which may be of any suitable material, and are attached byscrews 9, or any other suitable means, to flanged door portions 10, asseen in Figures 2 and 3.

Attached to the inner vertical edges of the doors 6 by means of thescrews 9 are novel sealing means 11, constructed in accordance with myinvention and comprising complementary channel sections 12 and 13. Theassemblies comprising sealing means 11 are identical on the two doors.Channel section 13 includes a suitably positioned ange 14 and an anglemember 15, said flange and member serving to clamp flat portions of aresilient bowed gasket member 16 through the agency of rivets 17 (Fig-ICC 2 ure 1). Other ilat portions of the resilient bowed gaske member,opposite the aforementioned clamped portions are, on both doors,interposed between liner 8 and door flanged portion 10, where themounting screws 9 urge the channel section 12, along with the liner 8,against the gasket 16, thereby securing thisportion of the gasket also.Springs S, or other suitable resilient means, mounted be'- tween theopposed channel sections 12 and 13 urge these sections apart.

Attached to the complementary leg portions of the channel 12 are pins 24which engage slots 25 provided in the complementary leg portions of thechannel 13. The slots 25 are so positioned that their center lines areper'- pendicular to the plane of the transverse flange portions of thechannels 12 and 13'. By virtue of correlation of pins 24 with slots 25the transverse ilanges of channels 12 and 13 remain parallel throughoutthe movement permitted by slots 25.l The slots 25, of course, limit thetravel of channel section 13 relative to fixed channel 12.

Additional structure of the refrigerator cabinet Sis of known type, and'includes a liner 18 with insulation interposed between it and` an outershell 2G. Joining the front of the liner 18 to the front of the outershell 20 is a peripheral breaker strip 21, suitably attached to flangedportions (not shown) of the cabinet liner 18 and to Hanging 23 of theouter shell 20. Latching means for the doors 6 is not shown, but it isto be understood that a variety of known means may be employed.

The operation of the doors and the novel sealing means is as follows:

Considering the doors in the position shown in Figure 1, furtherreference to Figure 3 illustrates the mode of operation of the novelsealingV means 11, the left-hand door as viewed in a closed positiondemonstrating the relative positions of the gasket elements when asingle door is closed, and similarly, the right hand door'in its openposition illustrating the' novel gasket means 11 in the position itoccupies prior to contact with thecabinet. Closing the door, as shown inFigure 2, causes the ange 14 of channel member 13 to impinge upon afrontal portion 23 of the cabinet flanging, whereupon engagement' of thelatching means (not shown) causes displacement of channel member 13toward itsV complementary mem ber 12 a distance determined by thepull-in distance of the latch. Motion of channel member 13 towardl menber 12, in: turn, causes the springs S toA be compressed and, at thesame time, the bowed resilient gasket member 16- is flexed so that itscentral portion is displaced toward the correspondingl gasket of theopposite door a suicient distance to` cause it to impinge upon and sealagainstv the opposing gasket.

Againreferringto Figure 3, itis seen that opening of either door causesthe springs S in the opened door,` to seek extended position, whereuponchannel member 1'3' is forced away from its complementary channel 12 adistance determined by the length of slots25. End portions of the slotsimpinge upon the pins 24, thereby limiting the travel of channel portion13. This action causes the' bowed gasket member 16 to be placed'- undertensionysuch'4 that the projecting bowed portion is drawn backwardlytoward the door structure. In this manner the bowed portion of thegasket 16 is caused to be displaced in a direction away from theopposing gasket.

it will be observed that complete and satisfactory sealing of the `doorsis accomplished even though the cabinet includes no center stile.Absence of the stile is, of course, very desirable because of theresultant increase in storage space and the improvement inaccessibility.

In the modified embodiment shown in Figure 4, the principles of thisinvention are applied to a cabinet of the single door type, the novelgasket means being used to eect a seal between the free edge of the doorand the adjacent door jamb structure. In this embodiment, gasket means11a is carried by insulated door 6a which carries a suitable liner 8a,said gasket including bowed resilient member a held in place bycomplementary channel sections 12a and 13a. Springs S are mountedbetween channel sections 12a and 13a, thereby urging Said channelsapart. Additional structure includes the cabinet outer shell 5a joinedat its front portion to liner 18a by means of breaker strip 21a, saidbreaker strip being S-shaped in its cross section for reasonshereinafter described.

In the operation of the embodiment of Figure 4, closing of the door 6acauses the forward flange or web portion of the channel 13a to impingeupon a flange portion of breaker strip 21a, which action in turn causesa displacement of channel 13a toward complementary chan nel 12a. Themovement of said channel 13o causes bowed resilient member 16a to bulgetoward confronting portion 26a of breaker strip 21a and impinge thereonto effect a seal between said door 6a and cabinet 5a.

Opening door 6a releases the compression force upon springs S, therebycausing channel section 13a to move away from complementary channelsection 12a. This movement of the channel causes the bowed portion ofresilient means 16a to move away from the portion 26a of thek S-shapedbreaker strip 21a, thereby breaking the seal between door 6a and cabinet5cl.

From the foregoing description it will be understood that the presentinvention provides novel and improved sealing means for double-doorcabinets of the stileless type, the invention being particularlycharacterized in that force is exerted against the gasket, duringclosing of the door, in such a way as to flex or bulge the gasketthereby to project it to a sealing position.

I claim:

1. In cabinet structure having an access opening, a door hingedlymounted for Opening and closing movement with respect to said accessopening, and sealing means for said door comprising: a pair ofchannel-like members having leg and web sections, said web sectionsbeing spaced one from the other in a direction generally transverse theplane of said door and said leg portions of each of said members beingpresented toward and overlying the leg portion of the other of saidmembers, one of said members being slidable toward and away from theother along said overlying leg portions, the other channel-like memberbeing aixed to a free edge of said door; and gasket means including apair of ilange portions and an intermediate portion of resilientmaterial interconnecting said flange portions, one of said flangeportions being aiiixed to said other of the channel-like members and theother of said ange portions being affixed to the web portion of theslidable channel-like member whereby said intermediate portion of saidgasket is extensible and retractable with respect to said edge of saiddoor, in response to variation in the spacing between said channel-likemembers, the construction and arrangement being such that saidintermediate portion is projected into sealing contact with part of saidstructure in response to impingement of the slidable channel-like memberupon another part of said cabinet structure and consequent movement ofsaid channel-like members toward one another.

2. In a cabinet having an access opening, oppositely hinged and abuttingdoors adapted to close said opening, and means for sealing abuttingportions of said doors, said means comprising: a gasket cariied by eachdoor, each said gasket having iirst and second flange portions, spacedin a direction transverse the plane of said door, and an intermediatesealing portion extensible and retractable in the general plane of saiddoor; means for securingsaid lfirst ilange portion to said door; channelmeans disposed along an edge portion of said door and overlying said rstilange portion, the leg portions of said channel means being presentedin a direction transverse the plane of said door; and a second channelmeans having its web portion parallel to the web portion of said firstchannel means and having its leg portions presented toward said rstchannel member and overlying leg portions thereof, the web portion ofsaid second channel means being so constructed and arranged as tosupport said second flange portion oi the gasket, said second channelmeans being so constructed and arranged as to provide for variation inthe space between said flange portions and being disposed for contactwith the cabinet during closing of the door to exert force in adirection to reduce the spacing between said flange portions and tocause flexing of said intermediate portion and extension of the lattertoward and into sealing contact with the abutting gasket.

3. in cabinet structure having an access opening, oppositely hinged andabutting doors for closing said opening and means for sealing an edgeportion of each door to the abutting edge portion of the other door,said means comprising: gasket means generally U-shaped in cross-sectionincluding a pair of fiange portions, one of said iiange portions aixedto the door adjacent and along said edge portion thereof, said gasketmeans further including a web portion intermediate said flange portionsextensible and retractable in the general plane of said door; andmechanism disposed intermediate said flange portions and including afirst member aiiixed to the door in the region of said one flangeportion, a second member engaging the other of said pair of angeportions and movable relatively to the rst, said first and secondmembers being so constructed and arranged as to normally keep saidflange portions spaced apart and said web portion in retracted position,the movable member however being disposed for cooperation with a part ofthe cabinet structure during closing of the door to exert force toeffect relative movement of the ilange portions of said pair toward oneanother to cause extensie-n of said web portion into contact with theabutting gasket means.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 404,445Stodard June 4, 1889 1,918,911 Hull July 18, 1933 2,212,551 Reid Aug.27, 1940 2,692,809 Kesling Oct. 26, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 813,075 GermanySept. 6, 1951

